Burundi’s main opposition party, the National Congress for Liberty (CNL), has sharply criticized the ruling CNDD-FDD party’s two decades in power, calling its record “a failure and disastrous” across nearly all sectors of national life.
In a statement issued Thursday, the CNL accused the government of presiding over political repression, economic collapse, widespread corruption, and human rights violations since coming to power in 2005. The communiqué was released just days after President Évariste Ndayishimiye and CNDD-FDD officials celebrated the party’s 20th anniversary at a national ceremony in Burundi’s political capital Gitega.
During the August commemorations, President Ndayishimiye praised his party for what he described as historic achievements in restoring stability and rebuilding Burundi after the civil war. He credited CNDD-FDD with reducing hunger and extreme poverty, saying “there are no more grass-thatched huts, no more kwashiorkor,” and argued that Burundians had moved beyond political and ethnic divisions.
The president also lashed out at critics, accusing civil society and some media organizations of acting as a “fourth power” against the government and revisiting grievances over the 2015 political crisis. He insisted the country was thriving independently despite reduced foreign aid.
But the opposition painted a darker picture. According to the CNL, CNDD-FDD’s legacy has been one of closing political space, manipulating elections, and steering Burundi toward de facto one-party rule.
Economic Decline and Widening Inequality
The opposition statement accused the government of presiding over a “progressive deterioration” of citizens’ lives. It pointed to the structural devaluation of the Burundian franc, chronic shortages of foreign currency, rampant inflation, and fuel scarcity.
“These conditions have reduced Burundians’ purchasing power to the point of impoverishment,” said Nestor Girukwishaka, the party’s president and legal representative, warning that the absence of a middle class has given rise to a small, “provocatively wealthy” elite.
Governance, Justice, and Human Rights
The CNL further denounced the ruling party’s governance style, citing systemic corruption, clientelism, mismanagement of state companies, and blurred lines between the state and the ruling party.
On justice, it alleged ongoing human rights abuses including enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, overcrowded prisons, and cases of people still imprisoned despite acquittals. The party said international and national watchdogs, including Burundi’s own Human Rights Commission (CNIDH), had echoed similar concerns.
Fundamental freedoms, it added, have regressed sharply since the 2015 crisis, with restrictions on free expression, harassment of journalists, and recurring media shutdowns.
Education and Health Under Strain
The opposition also criticized CNDD-FDD’s education reforms, describing them as poorly planned and damaging to quality. Challenges such as overcrowded classrooms, lack of desks, and insufficient teachers have left children “sitting on the floor” and families struggling to access decent schooling, the statement said.
In the health sector, the CNL dismissed the government’s flagship free care program for children under five and pregnant women as “a mirage,” citing medicine shortages and a worsening exodus of doctors and nurses seeking better jobs abroad.
Elections in Question
The CNL accused the ruling party of electoral fraud dating back to 2010, with the most recent elections described as “opaque” and marred by the systematic exclusion of opposition parties from the electoral commission and polling stations.
“The 2025 elections are particularly noteworthy because the ruling party demonstrated a clear determination to exclude all its main challengers, with the CNL as its prime target,” the statement read.
Despite government claims of legitimacy, the CNL has said the results validated by the Constitutional Court “did not reflect the will of the Burundian people,” citing support from observers, including the Catholic Church, which reported irregularities.
At the time of writing, the ruling party CNDD-FDD had not yet reacted publicly to the CNL’s claims.
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